Vienna: A Year of Growth and Adventure Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The main difference between the Austrian education system and Wellesley's American system is that there were only a few large assignments or final exam at the end of the semester. Classes met only once a week and there were rarely assignments due from class to class. Instead, the entire grade was based on just the final exam. I took a few seminar courses, and for those I had to give an oral presentation in class and then write a paper, and that was all of the work necessary to receive credit. So, even though I was taking a substantial course load in Austria, I had a lot less class time and a lot less homework time commitment than at Wellesley, where classes meet 2-3 times a week (or 2.5 hours once for seminars) and there are major assignments due in between.

On-site administration of your program

My program director was amazing. She was always available, reachable, and approachable. Alexandra understood fully the challenges of coming to the Austrian system from Wellesley and how to support us. She also is so well-connected in Vienna that she was able to find us wonderful internship opportunities and expose us to a myriad of cultural experiences in the city. My expectations were far exceeded, because I left Vienna sad to leave behind someone who I now consider a very, very dear friend as well as professor and mentor.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

The Wellesley-in-Vienna program facilitated housing as well as providing all of the necessary cookware etc. My dorm was in the 4th district of Vienna, was extremely clean and safe. It was also on a pretty quiet street considering its proximity to the very center of the city, a mere ten minutes away.

The dining hall at the university campus is not very good, so I just cooked all of the time for myself. It is easy to grab lunch at many different bakeries around the University, which is a much better option than the dining hall.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

We had orientation weekend trips at the beginning of each semester to a small hotel in the Alps, which were amazing opportunities to take advantage of the beautiful nature in central Austria. Our program also arranged numerous dinners, trips to the theater, concerts, and the opera, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The most memorable and significant to me were seeing performance of Concentus Musikus conducted by Nicholas Harnoncourt in the Musikverein. We also went on a weekend trip to Prague, a five-day trip to Berlin, and a day trip down the Danube to visit the Melk monastery. These trips were extremely well-planned and prepared for by our program advisor, and were not only education-enriching, but also extremely enjoyable.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Vienna is an extremely safe and quiet city. I had no issues, no matter what time of night I walked back to my dorm, and I had no health issues either.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

This program was extremely useful for encouraging and improving my language skills. I lived with an Austrian roommate in a dorm that was primarily Austrian students or foreign students studying full time in Austria who also wanted to improve there German. Thus, I was speaking German at home, at school since all of my classes were taught in German, and also at my internship. Since Vienna is a huge tourist spot, a lot of people can speak English, but after the first month of my living there, my German was confident enough that shopkeepers etc. would no longer try to switch to English with me. I was determined to speak German as much as possible, so I worked hard to speak German even when people assumed I was American and would have approached me in English. We also always spoke German with our program advisor and for those activities, so that was additional help and encouragement.

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• Dorm

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• Local Students

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• Local Students

• I made amazing friendships and grew to love the Austrian culture dearly.
• I had so many opportunities to interact with the musical circles of Vienna and attended some life-changing concerts through the organization of this program..
• I feel so comfortable in my German, and learned so many different dialects and slangs.

• I think it could have been helpful to have had a "core course" with all of the students in the program both semesters to have had more writing practice the entire year.